English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For May 26/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Letter to the Romans 12/01-08/:”I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 25- 26/2021
Hezbollah’s Liberation & Resistance Day Is A Big Lie/Elias Bejjani/May 25/2021
Health Ministry: 323 new Corona cases, 6 deaths
Lebanon’s Presidency Considers Calling National Dialogue if Govt Crisis Persists
Presidency Press Office refutes what “Asas Media" website stated: Words attributed to the President of the Republic are fundamentally fabricated
Army Commander meets French counterpart, Chief of Staff, Defense Minister
Nasrallah Urges Aoun and Hariri to Agree on Govt., Says Berri Ready to Help
Berri Urges Govt. Solution within 'Two Weeks'
Bassil Calls for 'State of Justice and Accountability'
Hariri May Submit New Line-Up amid Efforts by Berri, al-Rahi
Lebanon’s central bank chief tries to reassure depositors
Canada Says Would Consider Extradition of Lebanese-Canadian Academic
Rochdi Briefs U.N. Expert Group on Situation of Women, Peace and Security in Lebanon
Musharrafieh bound for Riyadh at the invitation of the Kingdom's government

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 25- 26/2021
After years of war, Assad on path to new term in rubber stamp-rule
Iran’s Guardian Council green-lights hardliner Raisi for presidential poll
U.S. Vows Support for Gaza Truce but No 'Benefit' for Hamas
Analysts: Gaza Conflict Forged New Sense of Palestinian Unity
Qatar moves to consolidate military, security presence in Libya
Biden discusses Gaza cease-fire, Mideast peace with Egypt’s Sisi/It was the US president’s second call to Sisi within days to discuss the conflict.

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 25- 26/2021
Analysts: Arab States Are 'Washing Their Hands' of Palestinians/Andrew E. Harrod/JNS (Jewish News Syndicate)/May 25/ 2021
Did Israel walk into a Hamas trap in Gaza?/Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/May 25/202
Lasers, integration and mobility: Israel races to stop growing threat from drones/Seth J. Frantzman//Defence News/May 25/2021
Even with a Deal, the Mullahs Will Pursue Nukes/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/May 25/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 25- 26/2021
Hezbollah’s Liberation & Resistance Day Is A Big Lie
Elias Bejjani/May 25/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/75168/elias-bejjani-hezbollahs-bogus-liberation-resistance-day-3/
Believe it or not, on May 25 each year since 2000 Lebanon has been celebrating the so-called “Liberation & Resistance Day.”
Sadly, this celebration commemorates a bogus event, and a phony heroism that did not actually take place.
On May 22, 2000 the Israeli Army unilaterally and for solely Israeli domestic reasons withdrew from the security zone of South Lebanon in accordance with UN Resolution 425.
This miscalculated and hasty withdrawal was a fatal Israeli decision that has inspired the Hamas terrorism acts and the on-going havoc in the Palestinian Gaza strip.
During the last 21 years many Israeli officials and politicians from all parties openly and harshly criticized Barak’s Government (Barak was PM at that time) hasty and unwise decision through which Israel’ abandoned its ally the South Lebanon Army (SLA) and gave Hezbollah all south Lebanon and the entire Lebanon on a plate of sliver.
The unilateral Israeli withdrawal created a security vacuum in south Lebanon.
The Syrians who were occupying Lebanon at that time and fully controlling its government, did not allow the Lebanese Army to deploy in the south and fill this vacuum after the Israeli withdrawal.
Instead Syria helped the Hezbollah militia to militarily control the whole southern region, and even patrol the Israeli-Lebanese border.
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli army’s withdrawal was executed without any military battles, or even minor skirmishes with Hezbollah, or the Lebanese and Syrian armies.
At the same numerous reports published in German and other western media facilities indicted with proves that Israel forged a secret deal with Hezbollah and its masters The Iranian Mullahs that arranged for the withdrawal.
The Syrian regime, in a bid to justify both its on going occupation of Lebanon and the avoidance of disarming Hezbollah, came up with the “Shabaa Farms occupation big lie” and declared Hezbollah a Liberator, alleging it had forced Israel to withdrawal from South Lebanon.
Syria, in the same camouflaging and devious context, dictated to both its puppet Lebanese parliament and government to declare May 25th a National Day under the tag of “Liberation & Resistance Day”.
In reality Hezbollah did not force the Israeli withdrawal, and did not play any role in the Liberation of the southern Lebanese region.
In fact both Hezbollah and Syria deliberately hindered and delayed the Israeli withdrawal for more than 14 years.
Every time the Israelis called on the Lebanese government to engage in a joint, serious effort under the United Nations umbrella to ensure a safe and mutually organized withdrawal of its army from South Lebanon, the Lebanese government refused to cooperate, did not agree to deploy its army in the south, and accused the Israelis of plotting to divide and split the Syrian-Lebanese joint track.
This approach to the Israeli calls was an official Syrian decision dictated to all the Lebanese puppet governments during the Syrian occupation era.
Since then, Hezbollah has been hijacking Lebanon and its people, refusing to disarm and advocating for the annihilation of Israel.
This Iranian mullahs’ terrorist army stationed in Lebanon, is viciously hiding behind labels of resistance, liberation and religion.
Hezbollah has recklessly jeopardized the Lebanese peoples’ lives, safety, security and livelihood.
It has been growing bolder and bolder in the last 19 years and mercilessly taking the Lebanese state and the Lebanese people hostage through terrorism, force and organized crime.
Sadly, Hezbollah is systematically devouring Lebanon day after day, and piece by piece, while at the same time marginalizing all its governmental institutions in a bid to topple the Lebanese state and erect in its place a Shiite Muslim regime, a replica of the Iranian Shiite mullahs’ fundamentalist republic.
Meanwhile the free world and Arabic countries are totally silent, indifferent, and idly watching from far away the horrible crime unfolding without taking any practical or tangible measures to put an end to this anti-Lebanese Syria-Iranian scheme that is executed through their spearhead, the Hezbollah armed militia.
Who is to be blamed for Hezbollah’s current odd and bizarre status?
Definitely the Syrians who have occupied Lebanon for more than 28 years (1976-2005).
During their bloody and criminal occupation, Syria helped the Iranian Hezbollah militia build a state within Lebanon and fully control the Lebanese Shiite community.
But also the majority of the Lebanese politicians, leaders, officials and clergymen share the responsibility because they were subservient and acted in a dire Dhimmitude, selfish and cowardly manner.
If these so-called Lebanese leaders had been courageous and patriotic and had not appeased Hezbollah and turned a blind eye to all its vicious and human rights atrocities, intimidation tactics, crimes and expansionism schemes, this Iranian Shiite fundamentalist militia would not have been able to erect its own mini-state in the southern suburb of Beirut, and its numerous mini-cantons in the Bekaa Valley and the South; nor would Hezbollah have been able to build its mighty military power, with 70 thousand militiamen, or stockpile more than 200 thousand missiles and force the Iranian “Wilayat Al-Faqih” religious doctrine on the Lebanese Shiite community and confiscate Lebanon’s decision making process and freedoms.
Since Hezbollah’s emergence in 1982, these politicians have been serving their own selfish interests and not the interests of the Lebanese people and the nation. They went along with Hezbollah’s schemes, deluding themselves that its militia and weaponry would remain in South Lebanon and would not turn against them. This failure to serve the people of Lebanon allowed Hezbollah to make many Lebanese and most of the Arab-Muslim countries through its terrorism propaganda to blindly swallow its big lie of theatrical, faked resistance and Liberation.
Hezbollah would not have been able to refuse to disarm in 1991, like all the other Lebanese militias in accordance to the “Taef Accord,” which called for the disarmament of all militias.
Hezbollah would not have become a state inside the Lebanese state, and a world-wide terrorism Iranian-Syrian tool which turned against them all after its war with Israel in year 2006 and after the UN troops were deployed on the Lebanese – Israeli borders in accordance with the UN Resolution 1701.
On May 7, 2008 Hezbollah invaded Sunni Western Beirut killing and injuring in cold blood hundreds of its civilian citizens, and too attempted to take over by force Mount Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s General Secretary Sheik Hassan Nasrallah called that day (May 7, 2008) a great and glorious victory for his resistance, and keeps on threatening the Lebanese that a replicate of that day will take place if they do not succumb and obey his Iranian orders.
Hezbollah is a deadly dragon that the Lebanese politicians have been allowing him to feed on sacrifices from the southern Lebanese citizens, especially on those who were living in the “Security Zone” and who fled to Israel in May 2000 after the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon.
This dragon who enjoyed devouring his southern sacrifices has now turned on all the Lebanese and if they do not stand for their rights and dignity, he will keep on devouring them all one after the other.
We call on the Lebanese government, the Lebanese Parliament and on all the free and patriotic Lebanese politicians and leaders to cancel the May 25 National Day, because it is not national at all, and also to stop calling Hezbollah a resistance, put an end for its mini-state, cantons and weaponry, and secure a dignified, honorable and safe return for all the Lebanese citizens who have been taking refuge in Israel since May 2000.

Health Ministry: 323 new Corona cases, 6 deaths
NNA/Tuesday, 25 May, 2021
The Ministry of Public Health announced, on Tuesday, the registration of 323 new Corona infections, thus raising the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 538,991.
It added that 6 deaths were recorded during the past 24 hours.

Lebanon’s Presidency Considers Calling National Dialogue if Govt Crisis Persists
Beirut – Caroline Akoum/Asharq Al Awsat/Tuesday, 25 May, 2021
Head of Lebanon’s Free Patriotic Movement, MP Gebran Bassil has recently called on President Michel Aoun to hold a national dialogue, amid severe disputes over the formation of a new government. Sources close to the president said that dialogue was one of the options on the table if the government deadlock continued, adding: “But no decision has been taken so far in this regard; the idea is being discussed and assessed because the priority now is to form a government.”“If it became clear that it was impossible to speed up the formation process, then it would be better to engage in dialogue and set a specific date for it,” the sources remarked. However, the Mustaqbal Movement, Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) and Lebanese Forces all agree that national dialogue would be pointless in the cabinet formation efforts. Deputy leader of Mustaqbal Mustafa Alloush said he supported dialogue in general, but added that based on previous experiences, such option would not be fruitful “because everyone comes to speak, but no one listens to the other.” “The priority today is not for dialogue, but to form a salvation government and stop the collapse; only then would it be possible to call for dialogue or even discuss dissolving parliament to hold new elections, because the electoral law needs dialogue, just like any constitutional amendment,” Alloush told Asharq Al-Awsat. PSP MP Hadi Abu Al-Hassan said: “In principle, we always support the call for any dialogue with Lebanese parties to find solutions to crises. However, if the goal of the dialogue today is to form a government, then we will not support it because we believe that this issue must be resolved between Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri according to the constitution.”Lebanese Forces MP Fadi Saad reaffirmed his party’s demand for the need to hold early parliamentary elections. On the other hand, Speaker Nabih Berri’s Development and Liberation bloc has expressed support to holding a national dialogue. MP Yassine Jaber told a television interview: “What is required today is an initiative by the President of the Republic to hold a serious discussion in the country.”Addressing Aoun, Jaber said: “Mr. President, the country is drowning, and you have to call for a dialogue.”

Presidency Press Office refutes what “Asas Media" website stated: Words attributed to the President of the Republic are fundamentally fabricated
NNA/May 25/2021
The Presidency Press Office issued Tuesday the following statement:
“Al-Assas Media website published an article signed by editor-in-chief, Ziad Itani, in which he conveyed a statement attributed to the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, which was previously attributed to Al-Jumhuriya newspaper in its issue of May 20, 2011 on the basis that it was mentioned in "WikiLeaks" documents, quoting former Justice Minister Charles Rizk, during a meeting that he included with the former US ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman in 2007, in which he addressed a statement attributed to President Aoun about the honorable Sunni community. The Presidency Press Office is interested in emphasizing that the speech attributed to the President of the Republic is entirely fabricated and has never been issued at any time, nor is it part of his manners. What was published in the year 2011 was the object of denial on May 21 2011, in addition to a lawsuit filed on May 26, 2011 against Minister Rizk, the publisher of the newspaper and its responsible director for “the offense of publishing false news, inciting murder, and attempting to incite sectarian strife”.Noting that the former minister Rizk denied at the time to the newspaper that published “record", in which he said: "I have no knowledge of all these lies, and only fools care about" WikiLeaks "and its lies”. It is regrettable that the "Asas Media" website resorts to re-circulating these lies and building upon them in an article that includes a set of additional fabrications and lies with well-known aims, especially since the aforementioned website has been persistent for some time to offend the presidency of the republic and the person of President Aoun, by publishing articles promoting data from the imagination of the website’s writers”. --- Presidency Press Office

Army Commander meets French counterpart, Chief of Staff, Defense Minister
National News Agency/25 May 2021
Lebanese Armed Forces Commander, General Joseph Aoun, responded to the invitation of the Chief of Staff of the French Joint Armies, General Francois Lecointre, to visit France, in order to examine the needs of the Lebanese army and discuss ways to support it, in light of the delicate economic circumstances prevailing in Lebanon. Arriving in France, General Aoun met this morning with his French counterpart at the Official Defense College, where a reception ceremony was held in his honor, followed by a meeting with Lecointre during which they discussed the situation of the Lebanese army and the challenges it is facing. Lecointre underlined "the necessity of supporting the army in various ways to help it continue to carry out its many tasks, and finding ways to assist the military personnel in overcoming the delicate economic situation." Later, General Aoun met with the Minister of Defense, Florence Parly, at her office at the Ministry of Defense, and thanked her for her country's continuous support to the Lebanese Army. He said, "France always stands by the Lebanese army through aid, donations and joint training programs, and is considered one of the most important countries that support us." He added: "The Lebanese army is going through a major crisis, which is bound to increase due to the deteriorating economic and social conditions that Lebanon suffers from, which may worsen when subsidy is lifted."Parly, in turn, stressed "the need to support the Lebanese army, which is the cornerstone of Lebanon's unity and stability."
General Aoun then visited the headquarters of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff, where he listened to a briefing about the tasks carried out by the French army.

Nasrallah Urges Aoun and Hariri to Agree on Govt., Says Berri Ready to Help
Naharnet/May 25/2021
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday called on President Michel Aoun and PM-designate Saad Hariri to hold consecutive meetings in order to agree on the line-up of the new government. “The key to solving everything in the country is the formation of a new government,” Nasrallah said in a televised address marking 21 years since Israel’s military withdrawal from Lebanon. “There are slogans that the exit is the resignation of President Michel Aoun and I say that this is not an exit nor a correct suggestion and such remarks will lead nowhere,” Nasrallah added, stressing that Aoun will remain in his post.
He also noted that some are calling on Hariri to give up his mission. “But it is clear that Hariri is holding onto his designation and we hope that his mission will be facilitated,” Nasrallah added. He accordingly called on Hariri to visit Aoun in Baabda and “meet with him night and day until a solution is reached,” because “they are responsible for the government’s formation” and are “entrusted with the country.” “The other path is seeking the assistance of a friend, and the only friend who can help is Speaker Nabih Berri in light of his position, political status and personal experience,” Nasrallah added.
“We are ready to help Speaker Nabih Berri and we call on everyone to help him,” Hizbullah’s leader went on to say, warning against keeping the country in its current problems. He also stressed that the governmental crisis is “domestic.”Separately, Nasrallah warned Israel against attacking Lebanon.
“Do not miscalculate and do not bet on the difficult situations in Lebanon, because this will not matter when the equation is preserving Lebanon's security and dignity,” Nasrallah said. “The Lebanese resistance is in its best situation and it has never been stronger,” he boasted about his group’s military capabilities.
He added: “I tell the Israelis not to commit any foolishness and not to make any wrong calculations regarding Lebanon... The rules of engagement still stand.”As for the latest war between Israel and the Palestinian factions in Gaza, Nasrallah said “the 'Sword of Jerusalem' battle dealt a blow to the course of normalization and all those who have normalized the ties” with Israel, in reference to several Arab countries. “After this battle, the 'Deal of the Century' fell and vanished,” Nasrallah added. He also warned that any Israeli violations of Jerusalem and the sites holy to Muslims and Christians would lead to a regional war. Speaking for the first time since the confrontation between Hamas and Israel, Nasrallah said Gaza's militant groups have proved that no one can sit idle when Israel attacks the holy sites or tries to undermine the Palestinians' right to the city. Even from besieged Gaza and with limited capabilities and home-made rockets, Hamas and other groups responded to Israeli violations and attacks, Nasrallah said. He described it as a great victory that paralyzed the Israeli state. The war was triggered by weeks of clashes in Jerusalem between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a site revered by Jews and Muslims. The site has seen several outbreaks of violence between Israelis and Palestinians over the years. The protests were directed at Israel's policing of the area during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers "The Israelis must understand that breaching the holy city and al-Aqsa mosque and sanctuaries won't stop at Gaza resistance," Nasrallah said during his 100-minute speech. Hizbullah's shadow loomed large during Israel and Hamas' 11-day battle in Gaza, with the possibility it could unleash its arsenal of missiles -- far more powerful than Hamas' -- in support of the Palestinians. But the Iran-backed group remained on the sidelines. Daily protests, including by members of Hizbullah and Palestinians in Lebanon, took place along the frontier with Israel in solidarity with Gaza. One Hizbullah member was killed when Israel opened fire to push back against protesters who tried to break through the volatile frontier. Nasrallah added: "Jerusalem means a regional war. All the resistance movements cannot stand by and watch this happening if the holy city is in real, grave danger."

Berri Urges Govt. Solution within 'Two Weeks'
Naharnet/May 25/2021
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has said that he has never stopped seeking a breakthrough in the government formation stalmate. "I have proposed three solutions initiatives... and we must try to do something to allow the approach of understanding to prevail," Berri told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Tuesday."The country is sinking and we cannot stand idly by in the face of this situation. We cannot surrender to this situation or to obstruction," Berri added. Stressing that the country needs an "urgent solution," the Speaker called for seizing the chance to form a "salvation government.""I'm afraid that this chance might be the last and we must find a solution and an understanding within these two weeks, or else things and solutions will become more difficult and complicated," Berri warned.

Bassil Calls for 'State of Justice and Accountability'
Naharnet/May 25/2021
Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil on Tuesday called for “a state of right, justice and accountability in Lebanon,” in a tweet marking 21 years since Israel’s military withdrawal from Lebanon. “The liberation of the year 2000 ended the myth of the occupation and the 2006 victory put an end to the era of the impunity of Israeli aggression,” Bassil said. “The deterrence equation boosted Lebanon’s strength in protecting its border and rights and abolished the ‘Lebanon’s strength lies in its weakness’ idea,” he added. “But victories are threatened to be lost and corruption might eradicate every resilience capacity unless victories are immunized by the (rise of the) state of right, justice and accountability,” Bassil went on to say.

Hariri May Submit New Line-Up amid Efforts by Berri, al-Rahi
Naharnet/May 25/2021
Contacts over the formation of the new cabinet resumed slowly over the past hours and may gain steam with the return of PM-designate Saad Hariri to Beirut, media reports said.Speaker Nabih Berri communicated with Hariri and the Free Patriotic Movement after the latest parliamentary session and the two sides showed some "flexibility," al-Joumhouria newspaper quoted "credible sources" as saying in remarks published Tuesday. "It was agreed to hold subsequent meetings and contacts on the hope that they may translate that flexibility and lead to an agreement on a government based on the Speaker's initiative," the sources said. Berri's initiative calls for the formation of a 24-seat government without a one-third-plus-one share for any camp. The sources added that the obstacle revolving around the two additional Christian ministers might find a "consensual" solution.
Other sources meanwhile told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper that Berri is waiting for Hariri to return to Beirut to urge him to submit a new 24-minister line-up. The daily added that Hariri had recently promised Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi that he would submit a new line-up, which prompted the latter to remind him of that in his Sunday sermon.

Lebanon’s central bank chief tries to reassure depositors
The Arab Weekly/May 25/2021
BEIRUT--Lebanon’s central bank chief Riad Salameh said on Monday that depositors’ money was safe in the country’s banks and they might soon be able to access some of their dollars. Once ranked among the world’s more profitable lenders, Lebanon’s banks froze customers out of their deposits and blocked them from transferring cash abroad after a financial crisis erupted in late 2019. “The system as we know it today has not collapsed,” Salameh told regional television network al-Arabiya’s Al Hadath channel. “There have been no bankrupt banks,” he said. Lebanese banks for years funnelled funds from a scattered diaspora into state coffers in return for high interest rates. But as Lebanon’s economic meltdown gathered pace and dollar remittances dried up, the financial system was starved of funding. Salameh said that small depositors could start getting access to some of their dollars at the end of June. The plan would involving releasing $50,000 per depositor, of which $25,000 would be cashed out in dollar bills and the remaining $25,000 in Lebanese pounds at the market price. “The money will be released gradually. This will prove that foreign liquidity started returning to banks,” he said. Salameh also said foreign reserves required to support the country’s subsidy programme were running out and that using mandatory reserves to fund the imports of basic goods would be legally challenging. “The Central Bank of Lebanon does not have the authority to make those decisions,” he said. Lebanon’s subsidy programme cost it around $6 billion a year. Last week, Lebanon, whose currency has collapsed amid a deep financial crisis, said it was launching a scheme to obtain dollars via banks at a rate similar to levels offered by unofficial dealers. President Michel Aoun said in March that banks would be allowed to handle transactions at market rates, but the central bank has only issued mechanisms in past weeks for the exchange platform. The central bank said in a statement on Thursday that Lebanese seeking dollars could register to buy the US currency at a rate of 12,000 to the dollar from participating banks from May 21-25. They would receive the dollars on May 27, it said. It did not say whether customers would in future also be able to use the central bank’s new Sayrafa platform to receive Lebanese pounds when selling dollars at a similar rate. Until the economy was crushed by debt in late 2019, the Lebanese pound was freely traded at banks, shops and elsewhere at 1,500 to the dollar. Since then, the street rate has plunged, trading around 12,800 on Thursday. Banks have faced limits on the rates they use, with some deals allowed at 3,900. The crisis has plunged swathes of the nation into poverty and the Lebanese, many of whom held savings in dollar accounts, now face restrictions on access to their foreign exchange, with limits both on withdrawals and on the bank rate offered.

Canada Says Would Consider Extradition of Lebanese-Canadian Academic
Agence France Presse/May 25/2021
Canada said Tuesday any new request to extradite Lebanese-Canadian academic Hassan Diab to France over a deadly bombing in Paris 40 years ago would be given due consideration. The 67-year-old is the only suspect in the October 3, 1980 attack on a synagogue in Paris that killed four people and injured 46. He was extradited to France in 2014, but released in 2018 after French magistrates ruled evidence against him was "not convincing enough" to hold him. Diab's supporters have called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to intervene to prevent the "unjust prosecution of an innocent man," recalling the Canadian leader's past remarks that Diab should never have been extradited in the first place. Asked about his attitude if there were a renewed push for a prosecution, Trudeau told a press conference: "If we receive an extradition request from France, we will of course analyze it with the full rigor that Canadians expect us to."Former University of Ottawa sociology professor Diab spent nine years in jail or under strict bail conditions in the two countries, fighting claims of involvement in the first deadly attack on Jews in France since the Nazi occupation. In a stunning about-turn in January 2021, the Paris appeals court overturned the decision to dismiss the case and ordered he stand trial. Diab took his case to France's highest court, which last Wednesday upheld the ruling not to dismiss the case. Canada's justice department said it would be "inappropriate to speculate on any potential requests for extradition of Dr. Diab to France." Should a request be made, Canadian justice officials would need to authorize a new extradition hearing before a superior court judge, whose ruling would then be put to Justice Minister David Lametti for a final decision.

Rochdi Briefs U.N. Expert Group on Situation of Women, Peace and Security in Lebanon
Naharnet/May 25/2021
Najat Rochdi, the Deputy U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, on Tuesday briefed a virtual meeting of the Security Council’s Informal Expert Group on Women, Peace and Security on the situation in Lebanon, particularly with regards to impact of the current crisis on women and how women are working to sustain peace and security in the country, her office said. It is the first time the Security Council’s Informal Expert Group discusses the situation in Lebanon. “Without addressing gender equality and women’s rights issues in Lebanon, we will not be able to sustainably and genuinely address the current multi-faceted crisis that the country is facing,” Rochdi said. While women in Lebanon are at the forefront of many current initiatives aimed at making peace, gender inequality in Lebanon is uniquely intertwined with the political and social structures that contribute to the cyclical nature of crisis in the country, she added. Noting how Lebanon’s unprecedented socio-economic crisis compounded by the COVID-19 lockdown and last year’s tragic Beirut Port explosions have further deepened gender inequalities, Rochdi insisted that any recovery efforts in Lebanon must be inclusive of women in order to be sustainable. Standing at 145 out of a total of 153 countries, Lebanon has one of the highest overall gender gaps in the world, and amongst the lowest rates of women’s political participation and labor market participation. The meeting discussed the importance of strengthening the participation of women in peace, security, and political processes, including in Lebanon’s parliamentary and municipal elections in 2022, as part of broader efforts to consolidate peace and bring stability to Lebanon. According to Rochdi, the adoption of Lebanon’s first National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security in September 2019 offered a ray of hope for increasing women’s participation in decision-making at all levels, including in the security and defense sectors and in conflict prevention and promotion of social cohesion, to contribute to sustainable peace in Lebanon. She also highlighted the “prominent role” played recently by women whether at the forefront of the popular protests and political movements or in local peacebuilding and mediation efforts, the statement said. Rochdi also reiterated the U.N.’s “repeated calls for the formation of a reform-oriented government in Lebanon to address the country’s urgent needs, including those related to women’s rights.”“Lebanon needs a Government that is competent, empowered, and representative of its people – naturally, also women. The longer Lebanon is without a government, the deeper this crisis becomes,” Rochdi warned.

Musharrafieh bound for Riyadh at the invitation of the Kingdom's government
NNA/May 25/ 2021
Caretaker Tourism and Social Affairs Minister, Ramzi al-Musharrafieh, left this afternoon to Riyadh on head of a Lebanese delegation to participate in the "47th Meeting of the Regional Committee for the Middle East of the World Tourism Organization" and the opening of the Organization's Middle East regional office. Musharrafieh will also be attending the conference on the revival and promotion of tourism at the invitation of the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where a series of meetings with officials will be held on the sidelines of the conference.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 25- 26/2021
After years of war, Assad on path to new term in rubber stamp-rule
The Arab Weekly/May 25/2021
AMMAN--Campaign posters for Bashar al-Assad line the streets of Damascus, alongside those for two obscure rivals, but no one really doubts that Wednesday’s election will extend his presidency despite 10 years of war that has left Syria in ruins. Ruled by his family for five decades, Syria is now barely recognisable from the nation that Assad, now 55, took over in 2000 after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad. When he began, the young eye doctor, who was belatedly groomed for office after his elder brother died in a car accident, promised a shift from his father’s iron grip – offering space to opponents and overtures to Western foes. But reforms were swiftly buried and protests against his authoritarian rule erupted in 2011 as the so-called Arab Spring swept across the region, turning into a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven 11 million from their homes, about half the population. Assad has retaken control of much of his nation, where some voters will cast ballots this week at polling stations surrounded by bombed out buildings. But he has achieved this only with the decisive military help from Russia and Iran. “If war imposes itself on our agenda, it doesn’t mean to prevent us from doing our duties,” he said on the Facebook account for his campaign, which has the slogan “Hope through work.”But, for swathes of the country, their employment barely buys enough food. Subsidised food has become a lifeline for many.
Saving face
Western governments and Assad’s domestic opponents, many now abroad because they say it is the only way to avoid Syria’s pervasive secret police, or mukhabarat, view the vote as a choreographed affair to rubber stamp his rule. “The country Assad is ruling is a shadow of the country that was Syria 10 years ago,” said Wael Sawah, a former political prisoner in exile in the United States. “The structure of society has changed as well as the economy too. It’s a shadow of what Syria was.” Some Syrians say the vote aims to tell the United States, Europe and others that Assad is unbroken and Syria still functions, even amid pockets of fighting, mostly in the north. “These elections are aimed at the West, taking the pattern of Western-style elections in one way or the other to give an ‘I am like you’ message,” said Maan Abdul Salam, who heads Syrian think-tank ETANA. There has been nothing Western-style about past results. In the 2014 poll, official numbers had Assad securing almost 89% of votes on turnout of more than 73%, even though it took place amid fierce fighting. Critics dismissed it as a sham. This year, Assad’s rivals are former deputy cabinet minister Abdallah Saloum Abdallah, and Mahmoud Ahmed Marei, head of a small, officially sanctioned opposition party. Assad has also released hundreds of longtime supporters from judges to civil servants who were arrested earlier this year in a crackdown to silence critics within his loyalist camp. Assad, who is from the tiny Alawite religious community, has all but crushed the insurgency in Syria, a majority Sunni Muslim nation. He has done so with the aid of Russia, which sent in warplanes, and Iran, whose support includes fighters from Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia group backed by Iran. Turkey still holds territory in the northwest where millions live in squalid camps after fleeing Russian-backed bombardment, and there is a small US military presence in the northeast, underpinning Kurdish rebels.
An unbearable situation
Before the war, Syria had a small but growing industrial base and produced modest amounts of oil from its northeast, now under Kurdish control, where most of its wheat was grown. Other food needs were met mainly from its fertile Mediterranean coast. Now the economy has crumbled. Power cuts are longer than during some of the worst fighting, as the government lacks foreign exchange to import fuel. Inflation has soared. “The situation today is not better from previous days when we lived under siege and bombardment,” said Abdul Khalek Hasouna from Moudamiya, a town near Damascus. “It was better than now.”But Assad has contained his main opponents. Sunni rebels, the backbone of the insurgency, are largely hemmed into the north. There is little sign of new opposition in other areas. Places like Ghouta, on the edge of Damascus, remain subdued. Western states and rights groups say Ghouta faced deadly gas attacks that killed hundreds after an uprising. Assad denies it. To encourage any disenchanted loyalists, Assad has offered interest-free loans and one-off grants to state employees. State salaries have been hiked. But Western sanctions still bite. “The economy won’t stand on its feet if economic sanctions are not lifted,” said Nabil Sukr, a Damascus-based economist. During the war, Assad’s security services nurtured militias to help fight its battles. With the fighting subsiding, some disenchanted militia members say the groups have created powerful fiefdoms. Others complain they have not been fairly rewarded. “My two brothers were martyred and what did we get? Nothing,” said Younes, a former fighter in a militia in Tartous on the Mediterranean, who only gave his first name. Yet, for some Syrians, such as Habib on his tiny teacher’s salary, election or not, there is little choice. “Life has become unbearable under Assad,” he said. “We used to look at him at as saint and now he is pushing us from stalwart supporters to silent opposition.”

Iran’s Guardian Council green-lights hardliner Raisi for presidential poll
The Arab Weekly/May 25/2021
TEHRAN - Iran on Tuesday approved seven hopefuls to run in next month’s presidential poll, with judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi among the mainly ultraconservative candidates, while heavyweights Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ali Larijani were barred. The main remaining uncertainty now is how many Iranians will come out and vote. The interior ministry announced on Monday that the Guardian Council approved the following candidates for the 13th presidential election: Ebrahim Raisi, Mohsen Rezai, a former Revolutionary Guard commander, Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator, Amirhossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi, a lawmaker, Abdolnasser Hemmati, the current head of Iran’s Central Bank, Mohsen Mehralizadeh, a former provincial governor and Alireza Zakani a former lawmaker. The decision by Iran’s Guardian Council puts judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi, who ran against President Hassan Rouhani in 2017, in a dominant position for the upcoming vote. He is the best-known candidate of the seven hopefuls, with opinion polls previously showing his anti-corruption campaign drew Iranian support. The announcement on state television didn’t discuss the fact that former parliament speaker Ali Larijani, a conservative who allied with Rouhani in recent years, had been barred. Larijani had been positioning himself as a pragmatic candidate who would back Rouhani’s signature 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. That accord is now in tatters as diplomats in Vienna try to negotiate a return of both Iran and the U.S. to the agreement. Also barred was former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Rouhani’s senior Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri, a reformist. Ahmadinejad ignored a warning from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2017 and registered, only to be rejected then as well by the Guardian Council. During an earlier session of parliament Tuesday, lawmaker Ahmad Alirezabeigi described Ahmadinejad’s home as being “under siege” by security forces since the day before. He also warned that the decision would suppress turnout. Iran’s theocracy since its 1979 Islamic Revolution has based its legitimacy in part on turnout in elections. State TV earlier quoted Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman of the Guardian Council, as saying “only seven” had been approved out of some 590 who registered by the panel of clerics and jurists overseen by Khamenei. In 2017, 1,630 hopefuls registered to run. The Guardian Council, composed of Islamic law jurists, exercises oversight over the interpretation of the constitutions and the holding of elections. Its role is seen as crucial in maintaining theocratic rule over Iran even if its decisions are among the factors that explain low turnout rates in Iranian elections. According to a survey by Netherlands-based independent polling organisation Gamaan, about 78% of Iranians say they do not intend to vote, while 12% say they will. The survey also shed light on the changes within Iranian society and the political attitudes of Iranians. About 53% of Iranians describe themselves as “regime change” proponents, 26% advocate for “structural transformations and a transition away from the Islamic Republic,” while only 13% support “the principles of the Revolution and the Supreme Leader” and 8% seek “reforms within the framework of the Islamic Republic”.

U.S. Vows Support for Gaza Truce but No 'Benefit' for Hamas
Agence France Presse/May 25/ 2021
U.S. top diplomat Antony Blinken on Tuesday vowed support to help rebuild the battered Gaza Strip and shore up a truce between Hamas and Israel, but insisted the territory's Islamist militant rulers would not benefit from any aid. Blinken's tour, which started in Israel and will also take him to neighboring Egypt and Jordan, comes as unrest still grips parts of annexed east Jerusalem after Friday's ceasefire ended 11 days of fighting in and around the Gaza Strip. At a joint news conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas later in the West Bank, Blinken warned that Washington would not allow international aid to rebuild impoverished Gaza to benefit Hamas. "We'll work with our partners closely, with all, to ensure that Hamas does not benefit from the reconstruction assistance," Blinken said. Netanyahu warned that Israel would respond very strongly if Hamas violated the truce. "If Hamas breaks the calm and attacks Israel, our response will be very powerful," the Israeli premier said. Blinken, who said earlier his trip would aim to support "efforts to solidify a ceasefire", had no contacts with Hamas, which is blacklisted as a terror group by Washington and most other Western governments.
"The United States fully supports Israel's right to defend itself," he reiterated. U.S. President Joe Biden said Blinken would meet "with Israeli leaders about our ironclad commitment to Israel's security", as well as seeking to rebuild ties with the Palestinians. Blinken on Sunday reaffirmed U.S. support for a two-state solution as the only way to provide hope to Israelis and Palestinians that they can live "with equal measures of security, of peace and dignity." His remarks about "equal measures" for Israelis and Palestinians seemed to shift the tone from Donald Trump's administration, which cut aid to the Palestinian Authority and unveiled a Middle East peace plan with strong Israeli backing but no support from Palestinians. In Jerusalem, Blinken said Israelis and Palestinians faced an uphill struggle to restore trust, after conflict in Gaza and unrest in the West Bank. "There's lots of hard work ahead to restore hope, respect and some trust across the communities," the US top diplomat said. "But we've seen the alternative and I think that should cause all of us to redouble our efforts to preserve the peace and improve the lives of Israelis and Palestinians alike." Israeli air strikes and artillery fire on Gaza killed 253 Palestinians, including 66 children, and wounded over 1,900 people in 11 days of conflict from May 10, the health ministry in Gaza says.  Rocket and other fire from Gaza claimed 12 lives in Israel, including one child and an Arab-Israeli teenager, an Israeli soldier, one India national and two Thai workers, medics say. Some 357 people in Israel were wounded.
Mass arrests
Blinken's visit comes as the ceasefire holds but tensions simmer in Israel and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories. Hours before Blinken's arrival, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli security sources said. The man was killed during an Israeli arrest raid on Al-Amara refugee camp near Ramallah, the sources said. In east Jerusalem, Israeli police said an attacker stabbed two young Israeli men on Monday before police shot him dead. The army said one of those wounded was a soldier. Palestinian news agency WAFA identified the casualty as a 17-year-old Palestinian high school student. In the night of Sunday to Monday, Israeli forces rounded up 43 Palestinians in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the Palestinian Prisoners Club said. Israeli police, who operate in east Jerusalem, said late Sunday that they had arrested 1,550 suspects and had charged 150 over the past two weeks in connection with the "violent events". Peace talks have stalled since 2014, including over the status of east Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The latest military escalation started after bloody clashes in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third holiest site, which is also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount. Israeli forces had moved in on Palestinian worshippers at the site, towards the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. They had also sought to quell protests against the threatened eviction of Palestinian families from homes in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah to make way for Jewish settlers.Ultra-Conservatives Dominate Iran Presidential Hopefuls
Agence France Presse/May 25/2021
Iran on Tuesday approved seven hopefuls to run in next month's presidential poll, a list dominated by ultraconservatives as key establishment figure Ali Larijani was disqualified in a shock move. That could clear the way for a strong run by ultraconservative judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi in the June 18 poll, which comes as Tehran seeks to salvage its nuclear deal with world powers. Raisi won 38 percent of the vote in 2017 elections but was defeated by moderate now-President Hassan Rouhani, who is constitutionally barred from running for a third term. The conservative-dominated Guardian Council, which vets election candidates, also barred firebrand former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The list, announced by the interior ministry, had been leaked before the official announcement and sparked criticism from reformists and even conservatives. "I have never seen the Guardian Council criticized and blasted so much from the far right to the far left," said reformist journalist Mostafa Faghihi on Twitter. The press had widely predicted a showdown between Raisi and former parliament speaker Larijani, a moderate conservative and currently an advisor to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Reformists had pinned their hopes on Eshaq Jahangiri, first-vice president to incumbent President Hassan Rouhani, but he was also barred. Kian Abdollahi, editor-in-chief of ultraconservative Tasnim news agency, said the council's disqualification of several key candidates was not "justifiable to the public" and that "a major part" of conservatives opposed it. Ultraconservative Fars news agency had reported the disqualification of the three heavyweights on Monday night. It described the move as a "no to those who created the status quo", implying that the barred hopefuls were responsible for Iran's deep economic and social woes.
'God's will'
The election comes as global powers meet in Vienna since in efforts to bring Washington back into a deal over Iran's nuclear program, which the U.S. left in 2018. The withdrawal under then president Donald Trump and re-imposition of U.S. sanctions led to Iran stepping up its nuclear activities.
Larijani, who was a key domestic backer of the 2015 deal, conceded his disqualification on Tuesday, although technically he has until midnight overnight on Tuesday to lodge an appeal. "Dear nation of Iran; now that the election was decided to be so, I have fulfilled my duty," he wrote on Twitter.
"I am content with God's will," he wrote, calling on Iranians to turn up and vote "for the progress" of the nation. Many political figures and analysts said there was hardly a competition any more, as the disqualification of his main rivals should allow Raisi an easy victory.
They include ex-Revolutionary Guards chief Major General Mohsen Rezai, ultraconservative former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, and ultraconservative MPs Alireza Zakani and Amirhossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi. The list also includes reformist ex-vice president Mohsen Mehralizadeh, and central bank governor Abdolnasser Hemmati, deemed close to the left. Conservative analyst Mohammad Imani argued that Raisi had already "topped all the polls" and his potential win would be more credible if he had more competitors. Raisi said he had busy since Monday "making calls" and "consultations" to keep more hopefuls in the poll. "Ever since I was informed about (the list) yesterday evening, I started making calls and am busy consulting so that the election scene can be more competitive with a high turnout," he wrote on Twitter.

Analysts: Gaza Conflict Forged New Sense of Palestinian Unity
Agence France Presse/May 25/ 2021
The latest escalation in the Middle East conflict served to unite the geographically fragmented Palestinian community in a way not seen in years, analysts say. From the blockaded Gaza Strip to the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem to Arab-Israelis living inside the Jewish state, scattered people pulled closer together. A sea of Palestinian flags flew in solidarity rallies, especially during "Day of Rage" protests and a general strike on May 18 that cut across separate areas. Administrative offices, schools and businesses closed across the West Bank to protest the bombardment of Gaza but also against expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied territories.
In a rare move, the shutters also came down in east Jerusalem, the part of the Holy City annexed by Israel, and in Arab-Israeli population centers such as Nazareth and Acre. "To see every single Palestinian community rise up together, this is extremely rare," said Salem Barahmeh, director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy. "To go on a national strike and protest and to have the Palestinian diaspora also involved, that's pretty historic," he said, referring to rallies by Palestinians abroad.
Scattered communities
Palestinians have long demanded their own state, with east Jerusalem as its capital, but for now the community is fragmented, with each part facing a different reality. In the latest confrontation, Israeli bombs rained down on Gaza, the blockaded coastal enclave of two million ruled by Islamist group Hamas, who had fired rockets at Israel. The escalation was sparked by clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians at east Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, one of Islam's holiest sites that is also sacred to Jews.
The ensuing violence also spread to the West Bank, where Israeli forces are largely in charge but the Palestinian Authority led by the secular Fatah movement has limited control. More than 25 Palestinians were killed in West Bank clashes. Inter-communal violence also flared in Israeli areas where Jews and Arabs usually live side by side. An Arab-Israeli, Mussa Hassuna, was killed in a confrontation between Jewish nationalists and young Arabs in Lod, in central Israel. Israeli Arabs are the descendants of Palestinians who stayed on their land after the creation of Israel in 1948.
- 'Fight for legitimacy' -
The fragmentation has long served to "ensure that there is no full Palestinian engagement geographically, socially and politically," said Barahmeh, who is based in Ramallah in the West Bank. While Gaza is mired in poverty, the West Bank after successive intifadas (uprisings) has seen liberal economic policies and the emergence of a middle class that at times seems less politically engaged, he said. Gaza's rulers Hamas, unlike Fatah, do not recognize Israel and the group is considered a "terrorist" organization by the U.S. and EU. Arab-Israelis, a minority of about 20 percent in Israel, meanwhile face their own unique challenges, said Amal Jamal, political science professor at Tel Aviv University. "Palestinians in Israel are realistic, they have been living with Jews for decades, they understand the Israeli psyche, politics, culture, they speak Hebrew fluently," he said. "Palestinians in Israel are fighting for their legitimacy, to be part of the political system, part of the decision making, in order to lead to a solution to the Palestinian problem."
Mariam Barghouti, a researcher and Palestinian activist, said that in the wider community "each person has a different experience with the Israeli state and that creates isolation for different communities. "It breaks the ability to relate to each other and our experiences."
- 'Start of something' -
But amid the recent surge in violence, Barghouti said, Arab-Israelis found themselves confronted by "people shouting 'death to Arabs' and attacking Palestinians with weapons". They realized that "it's not just a West Bank problem, not just a Gaza problem," said Barghouti. "It is an apartheid problem, a colonial problem, it's an Israeli state problem." The U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch and Israel's B'Tselem recently accused Israel of running an "apartheid" system -- a charge strongly rejected by the Jewish state. Jamal also said that the recent flare-up "made everybody feel how Palestinian they are. But there is a big difference between the sentiment and the political will or political orientation." Palestinians have been politically divided between Hamas and its rival Fatah, which has seen splinter groups emerge. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas of Fatah had recently called the first Palestinian elections in 15 years this year.
But he then indefinitely postponed the polls, blaming voting restrictions in annexed east Jerusalem, which led Hamas to accuse Abbas of perpetrating a "coup". Despite those divisions, a sense of common Palestinian identity has been strengthened, said Barahmeh. "You see people coming out together in a unified manner, speaking the same language, ... protesting the same system, projecting the same identity," he said. "Everything we see tells us that there is a form of unity. Is it fully formed? No... But I think it's the start of something."

Qatar moves to consolidate military, security presence in Libya
The Arab Weekly/May 25/2021
TRIPOLI – A visit by Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to Libya’s capital Tripoli on Sunday reflected Doha’s desire to consolidate its military and security presence in Libya despite the risks that this may pose in light of the ongoing differences between the different Libyan factions. During his visit, Al Thani announced the formation of a committee to evaluate previously-signed agreements between Doha and Tripoli, apparently in reference to the security memorandum of understanding signed by Qatar and Libya, represented by the Government of National Accord (GNA) headed by Fayez al-Sarraj in November 2020. Al Thani also reiterated his country’s support for the Libyan political process led by the United Nations “as long as it preserves the unity of the Libyan soil away from foreign interference.”“We discussed various areas of cooperation, whether it is in support of the transitional phase at the present time and providing what can be provided in terms of services that the Libyan people aspire to, and it was agreed to form working groups to evaluate the agreements between the two countries, as well as looking for opportunities to provide support and cooperation to our brothers in Libya,” the Qatari diplomat said. Al Thani’s one-day visit, the first since 2013, comes at a time when differences still exist evident between the Libyan rival factions over many issues, particularly the withdrawal of mercenaries and foreign forces from the country. Observers believe that activating the agreements signed between Qatar and Libya, especially the security and military deals, may lead to an exacerbation of differences between the rival factions, particularly in the light of calls to withdraw all foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya, a requirement that has been stipulated in the Libyan understandings.
The Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, is demanding the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the country, a demand rejected by the Muslim Brotherhood, allied with Qatar and Turkey.
In October 2020, Qatar signed with the GNA a memorandum of understanding to strengthen security cooperation. The MoU came after a military agreement was signed in August of the same year, allowing Doha to send military advisers to train Libyan militias stationed in western Libya.
Despite the changing regional dynamics that emerged with the Qatari-Egyptian rapprochement, Doha’s moves are still raising concerns in Libya, especially since the ceasefire agreement signed in Geneva last October remains fragile.
So far, the provisions of the ceasefire agreement have not yet been implemented, especially those related to the opening of the coastal road, the withdrawal of foreign forces and mercenaries and the unification of the armed forces. In a news conference with her Qatari counterpart, Libya’s Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush welcomed the Qatari-Egyptian rapprochement. “There is no doubt that the interest of our countries and our region requires us to work in harmony and coherence to serve our fateful causes. Perhaps the recent aggression against the Palestinian people confirms (…) our need to activate the mechanisms of joint Arab action,” she said. Speaking about her talks with Al Thani, the Libya foreign minister said, “During the talks, we stressed the importance of benefiting from the experience of the State of Qatar to support the efforts of the Government of National Unity in various fields of development and building,” she said. Since Libya’s new government took power, several countries have reopened embassies and Mangoush said she hoped that Doha would soon follow suit. “I think I have had good news,” Mangoush said, without providing further details. Since the toppling and killing of longtime ruler Muammar Gathafi in a 2011 NATO-backed uprising, Libya has plunged Libya into a bloody struggle for power. But in October, rival groups signed a truce, setting in motion a United Nations-led process. Libya’s interim unity government came into being in March, replacing two rival administrations, the GNA based in the capital Tripoli and the government of Abdullah Thinni in the country’s east– to lead the country to elections in December.

Biden discusses Gaza cease-fire, Mideast peace with Egypt’s Sisi/It was the US president’s second call to Sisi within days to discuss the conflict.
The Arab Weekly/May 25/2021
CAIRO / WASHINGTON - US President Joe Biden called Egypt’s President Abdelfattah al-Sisi on Monday to discuss strengthening the Gaza ceasefire, urgent humanitarian aid to the strip and international reconstruction efforts, the Egyptian presidency said. The two leaders also discussed ways to revive the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians after the latest wave of violence between the two sides, the presidency said in a statement. Egypt brokered the ceasefire, now in its fourth day after 11 days of hostilities. Cairo will be a stop during the visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region later on Monday. “Biden made clear his country’s determination to work to restore calm and restore conditions as they were in the Palestinian territories, as well as coordinating efforts with all international partners to support the Palestinian Authority as well as reconstruction,” the statement said. In Washington, the White House said in a statement that Biden during the call thanked Egypt for its “successful diplomacy and coordination with the United States” to end the hostilities. Biden and Sisi discussed the urgent need to deliver humanitarian assistance in Gaza and support rebuilding efforts “in a manner that benefits the people there and not Hamas”, it said. It was Biden’s second call to Sisi within days to discuss the conflict. But this time, the discussion was expanded to bilateral relations and some regional issues, including Libya and Iraq. Biden and Sisi exchanged views on the giant Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile and Egypt sees as an existential threat, the presidency said. Sudan is also concerned about the dam’s safety and about regulating water flows through its own dams and water stations. The statement said “it was agreed to strengthen diplomatic efforts during the coming period in order to reach an agreement that preserves water and developmental rights for all parties.” The White House statement said Biden “acknowledged Egypt’s concerns about access to Nile River waters and underscored the US interest in achieving a diplomatic resolution that meets the legitimate needs of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.”Sisi and Biden also discussed human rights in Egypt and their “commitment to engage in a transparent dialogue… in this regard,” the presidency said. Biden “underscored the importance of a constructive dialogue on human rights in Egypt,” according to the White House statement.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 25- 26/2021
Analysts: Arab States Are 'Washing Their Hands' of Palestinians
Andrew E. Harrod/JNS (Jewish News Syndicate)/May 25/ 2021
In what proved to be a snapshot of professional views of the Arab-Israeli conflict on the eve of war, Georgetown University adjunct professor and Middle East Institute (MEI) senior fellow Khaled Elgindy concluded that the "Arab world is sort of washing [its] hands" of the Palestinian cause during a May 3 MEI webinar. He agreed with his fellow panelists addressing "Arab-Israeli Normalization: A Viable Avenue Towards Peace?" that America and Arab states are prioritizing practical self-interests over an increasingly failed, violent Palestinian state project.
The panelists examined the implications of Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates establishing normal diplomatic relations with Israel during former President Donald Trump's final months in office. These agreements initiated by Bahrain and UAE's Abraham Accords have become only more remarkable in the days following the panel. The Iranian-supported Hamas terror group in Gaza renewed rocket attacks against Israel on May 10, firing thousands of rockets at Tel Aviv and other Israeli civilian population centers. Israel retaliated with airstrikes and artillery. UAE officials warned Hamas of sanctions if its campaign persists.America and Arab states are prioritizing practical self-interests over an increasingly failed, violent Palestinian state project.
These Arab state recognitions of Israel "robbed the Palestinians of one of the very few points of leverage that they had vis-à-vis Israel," noted Elgindy. Palestinians suffer "already pretty stark power asymmetry" with Israel. Given this "existential threat to the Palestinian national project," he added, the "Palestinian response across the political spectrum was extremely negative."Richardson Center for Global Engagement vice president and executive director Mickey Bergman, Elgindy's fellow Georgetown adjunct, argued that these Arab states had been "very opportunistic" in making deals with Israel. The panelists noted that Trump recognized Morocco's claim to the disputed Western Sahara and delisted Sudan as a state sponsor of terror. Meanwhile, Bahrain and the UAE wanted closer ties with Israel and the United States, particularly given growing Iranian threats.
Mohammed Soliman: For the Arab Gulf states, "geopolitics is back."
Focusing on the Gulf states, MEI nonresident scholar Mohammed Soliman noted that for them, "geopolitics is back." Since Trump's 2016 election, "America has less local capital and willingness to invest in a lot of problems around the world." In particular, "America is leaving everything behind for the Indo-Pacific," he noted.
"In order to reorganize the region in a post-U.S. dominated architecture," analyzed Soliman, Gulf states "need to solve certain problems and realign with certain forces." This precluded trying to resolve the interminable Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the moribund solution of creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel. "The current status quo cannot be sustained," he explained, "based on a dream of having two-state solution soon." As Elgindy concurred, "basically, what Arab states are saying is, we cannot simply wait around forever, either to pursue our bilateral interests or to pursue other geopolitical interests," on "this unicorn called a two-state solution."By contrast, Gulf states seemed more interested in military alliances among themselves and with Israel to counter threats like Iran, said Soliman. "The idea of an Arab-Israeli NATO" goes back to President George W. Bush, and "we are getting there. It's not a fancy idea anymore; however, it is going to take time." Webinar moderator Joyce Karam, Washington correspondent for The National, noted that an "Arab NATO" was an "idea that was first started with Harry Truman" with initiatives that led to the failed 1955 Baghdad Pact.
Khaled Elgindy lamented that "the Arab world is sort of washing [its] hands" of the Palestinian cause.
Elgindy additionally cited the practical realities that facilitated Israel's relations with Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the UAE. Unlike Egypt and Jordan, which made peace agreements with Israel in 1979 and 1994, respectively, this Arab quartet had never engaged in military hostilities with Israel. Correspondingly, several of these states have had "under-the-table relations with the Israelis anyway" and now merely "are consecrating an existing geopolitical order."
Meanwhile, Arab states "will continue to pay lip service to two states because everyone needs some place to hang their hat" concerning a strategy for the Palestinians, observed Elgindy. Yet international actors are increasingly practicing "conflict management" and "risk aversion" towards the Palestinians, United States Institute of Peace Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Program, explained director Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen. In tandem, she added, Israeli "trends are clear that the body politic has moved very much and largely to the right," to the detriment of concessions to the Palestinians. This trend has only accelerated with the latest eruption of violence.
Yet even before Hamas's latest jihad, Elgindy correctly faulted Palestinians for their plight, as the Palestinian Authority's recent cancellation of long overdue elections—the first since 2006—further exposed the corruption of the P.A. dictatorship. The cancellation "is another sign of a, I don't any other way to put it, but a bankrupt leadership, that has no strategic vision, that is incapable of even minimally doing what is required to put its own house in order." "You can never really underestimate the Palestinian leadership's dysfunction," he added.
Palestinians have "become their own worst enemies," said Elgindy. The election fiasco "is very much a self-inflicted wound," said Elgindy, and Palestinians have "become their own worst enemies" by showing themselves unworthy of serious international consideration. This societal incompetence "is self-reinforcing" against Palestinian state aspirations, as Arab nations are "not inclined to want to move ahead with two states." In this context, he chastised Israel, the United States and other countries for "opposing Palestinian reconciliation efforts" between the P.A. and Hamas, as if giving power to jihadist terrorists could solve anything. The situational analysis of the Palestinian cause left Elgindy in a gloomy mood. Israelis continue to settle disputed West Bank territories, the historic Jewish heartland of Judea and Samaria, thereby continually limiting the extent of any future Palestinian sovereignty. "De facto annexation is happening on the ground as we speak, with nary a word of opposition" globally, he said; the situation "is deteriorating really, really rapidly."Yet what for Elgindy is Palestinian defeat is for others an Israeli victory over a hitherto implacable foe that has resorted to futile bloodshed yet again. After decades of Israeli resilience against Arab efforts to destroy the Jewish state, practical Arab governments are seeking mutually beneficial relations with Israel and abandoning extremist, rejectionist Palestinians. If this acceptance of reality spreads to other Arab states, perhaps one day even Middle East studies professors will follow suit.
*Andrew E. Harrod is a Campus Watch Fellow, freelance researcher, and writer who holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a J.D. from George Washington University Law School. He is a fellow with the Lawfare Project. Follow him on Twitter at @AEHarrod.

Did Israel walk into a Hamas trap in Gaza?
Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/May 25/202
Hezbollah and Iran were empowered and Hamas was suddenly more popular than ever – and it wasn’t even being condemned for firing 4,000 rockets at Israeli civilians.
A month before the Gaza war, things were going well for Israel. The Abraham Accords were going strong and a vaccination campaign had made Israel an envy during the pandemic. The peace agreements appeared to herald a new era in the Middle East and all that was required was to keep Iran and its proxies from trying to destabilize the region. A new US administration was keen to increase the US role around the world and support human rights. That might mean no more chaotic policies, like the flip-flops of the Syria withdrawal in 2018-2019.
On May 22, after the recent Gaza war, the Palestinian Authority mufti was expelled from al-Aqsa for not supporting Hamas. Hamas was riding a wave of popular support, claiming it had defeated Israel. Protests in many countries had targeted Jews and articles slamming Israel were being printed in newspapers worldwide. China had led efforts at the UN critiquing Israel and in the US, several far-left members of the Democratic Party were calling Israel “apartheid” and pushing to stop arms sales.
Israel support was declining among key supporters, such as American Evangelicals. Hamas was more popular than ever suddenly and it wasn’t even being condemned for firing 4,000 rockets at Israeli civilians, of which some 60 fell in Israeli cities and towns. There’s talk now of a shift in how countries will approach Hamas and it has received more legitimacy in the weeks since the war than in the decades prior.
Hezbollah and Iran were empowered and not deterred. Pakistan’s top diplomat was spouting antisemitism on CNN, and Turkey, along with Iran, was leading the charge to sanction and isolate Israel. In the West Bank, Palestinians were celebrating the Hamas victory. Groups like Human Rights Watch and other anti-Israel groups were talking Israel “apartheid” and arguing for a one-state solution. Anti-Israel activists sensed the tide had turned: Israel could be eliminated as a “settler-colonial state.” Iran agreed.
How did it come to this?
ISRAEL HAD largely kept Hamas isolated and ossified in Gaza since the 2014 war. Cut off from many supplies by Egypt, it had few friends. It had tried to expand that dwindling support abroad in 2019 and 2020 through visits to Turkey, Malaysia, Qatar and Iran. However, Israel’s new relationships in the Gulf appeared to show that Israel was now accepted in the region and a new alliance with Greece and Cyprus could promise new energy deals. Turkey, concerned about the incoming presidency of Joe Biden, was talking reconciliation across the region after being empowered by the Trump administration. The US was “back,” Biden said.
When the Biden administration came into office it was after an unprecedented era of uncertainty in the US, with COVID and the former US President refusing to concede. The Middle East was not a priority. Israel had close cooperation with US Central Command and good relations with the US regarding its desire to protect its interests. It was able to act against Iranian entrenchment in Syria. There was no big push for peace. There wasn’t even a new US ambassador in Jerusalem. But a slow drumbeat was beginning.
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In preparation for the incoming Biden administration, the human rights group B’Tselem released a report on Israel apartheid. By April 27, Human Rights Watch would follow suit. On April 29, the Palestinian Authority postponed its elections, fearing a Hamas victory. Israel had held elections on March 31 and continued to be divided. It was the fourth elections in two years. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did little to form a coalition.
A ray of hope was the rise of Ra’am and its head Mansour Abbas. He looked willing to join an opposition coalition after breaking from the Joint List. By May 5, President Reuven Rivlin had tasked Yair Lapid with forming a government after Netanyahu failed once again to create a coalition.
MEANWHILE, tensions were growing in Jerusalem. Ramadan had begun and with, it there were clashes with Israeli police at Damascus Gate. After attacks on Orthodox Jews there was a right-wing rally on April 22 and several were wounded. A dispute in east Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood began to get some international and Palestinian attention. Hamas vowed to defend Al-Aqsa.
On Quds (Jerusalem) Day, May 7, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said Israel was a terrorist state. Iran’s IRGC head Hossein Salami also slammed the Jewish state and predicted that it could suffer a tactical defeat or be blockaded at sea. Hamas and Hezbollah made similar statements. Hamas warned Israel that it would respond to Jerusalem clashes and on May 10, to coincide with Israel’s Jerusalem Day marches, fired rockets at Jerusalem.
Israel, with Lapid and Naftali Bennett seeking to form a coalition to replace Netanyahu, began airstrikes on Gaza. By May 12, Bennett had ended discussions on a new government. Riots across Israel in Arab and mixed towns created a crisis. Border Police were rushed to Lod. Attacks and lynchings began on both sides from Bat Yam to Umm al-Fahm, Rahat, Jaffa and other places. There had been clashes in Jaffa since April 20.
Now things took a turn for the worse. Israel called up almost 10,000 reservists, and sent Golani and 7th Armored soldiers to the border of Gaza. It rushed support to the West Bank where shooting attacks and clashes grew. The attacks had begun with Palestinian terror cells targeting the Tapuah junction in early May. Another shooting attack took place on May 7, near a post at Salem in the West Bank. Israel said the shooters were planning a worse attack.
WHEN ISRAEL retaliated on May 10, Hamas put into action a plan to use thousands of rockets to pound Ashkelon, Ashdod and Tel Aviv, as well as Israeli airports and population centers. It used drones and planned to use unmanned submarines. It sent anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) teams to the border to strike at Israeli vehicles. This was a sophisticated, planned operation, in which up to 140 Hamas rockets would be fired at once in massive barrages.
Hamas had perfected this over the years with various rocket attacks at sea, practicing for this scenario. It also showed off new long-range rockets with a range of up to 250 km., targeting Eilat and perhaps Dimona as well. It knew that a Syrian S-200 had been fired that triggered alerts near Dimona on April 22.
With Iranian support, there were attacks in the North as well. On May 13, rockets were fired into the sea from Lebanon and protesters laid siege to Israel's border with its northern neighbor on May 18. It may have come from Iraq. Rockets fired on May 19 even flew near Kiryat Yam, near Haifa. This was a serious incident. It followed the April 27 downing of a Hezbollah drone. Now Hamas and Fatah activists are battling over Al-Aqsa, as clashes showed on May 23, and Hamas is saying that its war has harmed the Abraham Accords.
It’s not clear whether Hamas knew its plans would work or the degree to which Iran advised Hamas on this strategy. It is also not clear if the benefit to Hamas and Iran was merely a lucky turn of events for them and that timing dictated the need to go to war but the results were far from certain. Clearly, Hamas didn’t have much to lose. Israel, on the other hand, has much to lose and it had diminishing returns from its years of sunk costs in Gaza. Iran and Hezbollah wanted to test Israel’s defenses. It increasingly appears Israel walked into a trap in Gaza. It was a trap partially of Israel’s own making due to not having a new government and having strategic planning concentrated in Netanyahu’s office without checks and balances and broader security cabinet discussion.

Lasers, integration and mobility: Israel races to stop growing threat from drones
Seth J. Frantzman//Defence News/May 25/2021
JERUSALEM — On April 27, personnel with the Israel Defense Forces downed a drone that crossed into the country from Lebanon. They also found a second drone “belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization” that had been taken down in early April, according to an IDF statement. It was the latest Israeli targeting of a drone — yet more evidence of an emerging threat that Israel is looking to counter.
The most recent incident came the same day that Israel’s national security adviser visited Washington for a meeting with his counterpart, Jake Sullivan. The U.S. and Israel agreed to establish an interagency working group to focus particular attention on the growing threat of UAVs, per a readout of the meeting. Since 2018, the U.S., with congressional support, has backed Israeli efforts to acquire technology for countering unmanned aerial systems.
Israel’s large defense companies make c-UAS systems and combine their expertise to benefit Israel’s multilayered air defense systems, like Iron Dome. These measures include air defense systems using interceptors against large UAVs as well as a plethora of systems against smaller threats. Elbit Systems makes ReDrone, which in 2019 it mounted on vehicles for convoy protection as the ReDrone Vehicular Tactical System. ReDrone was first launched in 2016 and can detect, identify, track and neutralize smaller drones.
At Israel Aerospace Industries, a variety of technologies for confronting drone threats are in operation. Yoav Tourgeman, CEO of IAI subsidiary Elta Systems, said the company is now in its fourth generation of c-UAS solutions with the Drone Guard, which he said has been sold to 100 customers. Israeli companies usually don’t identify customers, and IAI did not specify in this case.
“We have an on-the-move solution, as opposed to those who have to stay still. We have a solution that can work in a fast-moving convoy, multiple abilities to detect and multiple tools to counter, including hard- and soft-[kill],” he said.
Elta has incorporated two hard-kill solutions, one of which uses a drone itself to strike the drone threat; the other uses Smart Shooter technology, which is a fire control system mounted on a rifle that enables accurate shots against drones at up to several hundred feet. On the radar-detection front, IAI makes the Multi-Mission Radar that is used with Iron Dome, the lower tier of Israel’s multilayered air defense systems. Israel recently said Iron Dome, which uses missile interceptors and is developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, has new capabilities, noted that it can simultaneously counter multiple UAV threats.
Elta touts its various radars, including the Green Pine system, as tailored for the customer requirements. “We see emerging requirement and interest from aerial threats becoming a more significant factor today, and we see more customers in that,” Tourgeman said.
Israeli firm Rada also produces radar for maneuver short-range air defense and c-UAS.
Rafael’s Drone Dome has been updated with new capabilities, the company says. Last year the system used lasers to intercept multiple drones.
Despite any updates, the doctrine of the system remains the same: It detects drone threats and their signals at several kilometers away. The system uses a signals intelligence approach alongside radar to determine the location of a drone, then uses electro-optics with infrared sensors to confirm it.
Data from cameras and sensors are used by an algorithm to search for drone threats. The goal is to prevent false alarms, such as when birds are confused for drones, the company said.
“C-UAS have a big problem with false alarms,” a Rafael official noted. Drones that may fly without a signal can make detection more difficult.
Drone Dome also uses a jammer to try to stop drones, but can also use lasers at shorter ranges. The laser system has been presented to delegations from 16 countries. Still, challenges exist because an effective laser requires a high-quality beam and accurate tracking to burn drones out of the sky. Confronting a swarm of drone threats requires this be done quickly.
In a region where the threat of drone swarms and low-altitude cruise missiles is particularly acute, countries are left to reexamine existing air defense technology.
The system is deployed in more than 10 countries in various configurations, including the United Kingdom and Singapore.
Rafael noted that while threats often come from small quadcopters, there appears to be a growing use of fixed-wing UAVs. Iran used a combination of fixed-wing kamikaze drones and cruise missiles to attack Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq oil facility in 2019.
Rafael also provides a naval solution for c-UAS threats as an upgrade to its Typhoon weapon system. Active with 23 navies, including the United States, it is installed on a dozen different platforms at sea. The MK-30c can now hold up to 400 rounds — double the capacity of the previous Typhoon system — with 70-degree elevation, coupled with air-burst ammunition to confront small and medium UAVs. Rafael has installed and integrated the operationally proven image-processing automatic target recognition technology, the company said. The system can confront UAVs at a range of several kilometers.
Israel’s Xtend Skylord c-UAS system, called Griffon, was delivered to U.S. Army Special Operations Command, the firm announced April 5. The company, whose system uses a drone-launched net to stop drones, has taken part in joint c-sUAS trials. According to the company, it has delivered 150 systems since last year, and the system is currently operational in Israel. The firm also has contracts in Germany and has qualified for use by Spain.
The U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office completed a mid-April counter-drone demonstration at Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona, during which Xtend, Elta North America and Aurora Flight Services participated.
The Griffon integrates command-and-control technology with various radars. The system uses a drone to confront other drones, with that interceptor drone being able to fly out to 2.5 miles to seek and then use its net.
The company is currently looking for new foreign opportunities, such as Gulf customers amid recently renewed diplomatic relations with some neighbors.
Other Israeli companies also see promising opportunities in the region following February’s International Defence Exhibition and Conference. Israeli delegates and businesses were invited to the event for the first time this year. A month later, IAI and Emirati defense conglomerate Edge signed a strategic agreement to develop c-UAS solutions.
For its part, Israel-based Netline Communications Technologies offers a multilayer c-UAS product called DroneNet, which detects, tracks and jams drones. In a separate success for Israel’s Smart Shooter, the company was chosen by the U.S. Army in June 2020 as one of a number of Pentagon-approved products. It is also used by the Indian Navy, and 10 other countries are in various stages of evaluating the system.

Even with a Deal, the Mullahs Will Pursue Nukes
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/May 25/2021
It is important to expect that whatever the deal, the Iranian regime will continue to pursue its nuclear ambitions and clandestine nuclear activities: there are historical precedents for it.
Tehran claimed that the "secret atomic warehouse," located in a village of Turquz Abad in the suburbs of Tehran, was a place where carpets were cleaned.
The IAEA at first ignored the reports. This should not come as a surprise: the IAEA has a long history of misreporting the Islamic Republic's compliance with the deal and declining to follow up on credible reports about Iran's illicit nuclear activities.
The mullahs of Iran will not honor any deal with the international community. While the mullahs will gladly reap the profits of any nuclear deal and its lifting of the sanctions, their regime will continue pursuing its covert attempts to obtain nuclear weapons and overt attempts -- with China -- to take over the Middle East.
Just recently, we have seen Iran's entrenchments in Syria and Iraq; its takeover of Lebanon by its proxy Hezbollah; its stepped-up aggression against Saudi Arabia by its proxy, the Houthis, and its 4,000-rocket war this month on the tiny country of Israel by yet another proxy, Hamas.
Whatever "deal" is struck in Vienna, Iran is not interested in "stabilizing" the Middle East. As the Biden administration has correctly pointed out, Iran's leaders, with China, seem interested only in destabilizing, then dominating it.
The argument that negotiating and reaching a nuclear deal with the mullahs of Iran will curb their nuclear ambitions and prevent the Iranian regime from obtaining nuclear weapons is, sadly, a dangerous fantasy. Pictured: The Isfahan uranium enrichment facility in Isfahan, Iran. (Photo by Getty Images)
The argument that negotiating and reaching a nuclear deal with the mullahs of Iran will curb their nuclear ambitions and prevent the Iranian regime from obtaining nuclear weapons is, sadly, a dangerous fantasy.
The nuclear deal has sunset clauses that soon remove restrictions on Iran's nuclear program after the deal expires. In short, the nuclear deal, rather than preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, as it was falsely touted to do, in fact paves the way for Tehran to become a legitimized nuclear state after it concludes.
Even before that, however, it is important to expect that whatever the deal, the Iranian regime will continue to pursue its nuclear ambitions and clandestine nuclear activities: there are historical precedents for it.
It was not one year into the 2015 nuclear deal that two credible intelligence reports revealed that Iran had no intention of honoring the terms of the deal it had just reached with the Obama-Biden administration. Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, revealed in its annual report in 2016 that the Iranian government had been pursuing a "clandestine" path to obtain illicit nuclear technology and equipment from German companies "at what is, even by international standards, a quantitatively high level."
The 2016 intelligence report also stated that "it is safe to expect that Iran will continue its intensive procurement activities in Germany using clandestine methods to achieve its objectives." German Chancellor Angela Merkel had strongly criticized Iran at the time and emphasized the significance of these findings in a statement to the German Parliament.
Another detailed report by the Institute for Science and International Security appeared to shed more light on Iran's covert nuclear activities during what the world probably thought was an assured nuclear deal. The report stated, also in 2016 during the supposedly guaranteed nuclear deal:
"The Institute for Science and International Security has learned that Iran's Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) recently made an attempt to purchase tons of controlled carbon fiber from a country. This attempt occurred after Implementation Day of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) [the nuclear deal]....This attempt thus raises concerns over whether Iran intends to abide by its JCPOA commitments.... The carbon fiber procurement attempt is also another example of efforts by the P5+1 to keep secret problematic Iranian actions."
In addition, it was still during the presumed nuclear deal, in 2018, that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiya Amano immediately to inspect an "atomic warehouse" in Iran.
The Islamic Republic, Netanyahu stated in his speech to the UN General Assembly, had a "secret atomic warehouse for storing massive amounts of equipment and material from Iran's secret nuclear weapons program." Tehran claimed that the "secret atomic warehouse," located in a village of Turquz Abad in the suburbs of Tehran, was a place where carpets were cleaned. The IAEA at first ignored the reports. This should not come as a surprise: the IAEA has a long history of misreporting the Islamic Republic's compliance with the deal and declining to follow up on credible reports about Iran's illicit nuclear activities. Nevertheless, after a significant amount of pressure was imposed on the IAEA, the site was finally inspected. Even though the Iranian leaders had cleaned up the facility, the IAEA's inspectors were able to detect traces of radioactive uranium. Israel's warning and other reports had proved accurate.
The detection of radioactive particles in Turquz Abad after Israel's warning, in addition to Iran's response that suspicions about its deceptions are "fabricated," point to Iran's probably intractable unwillingness to honor its commitments.
Finally, also during the 2015 nuclear deal, the Iranian regime exceeded the amount of heavy water -- a material that can be utilized for nuclear energy or for producing nuclear weapons -- it was supposed to possess under the nuclear pact. Iran was obligated to keep its stockpile of heavy water at less than 130 metric tons. According to reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency, however, the Islamic Republic exceeded its threshold for heavy water on more than one occasion: both in 2015 and 2016. IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano acknowledged in November 2016: "For the second time since implementation of the JCPOA began, Iran's inventory of heavy water exceeded 130 metric (tons)."
The mullahs of Iran will not honor any deal with the international community. While the mullahs will gladly reap the profits of any nuclear deal and its lifting of the sanctions, their regime will continue pursuing its covert attempts to obtain nuclear weapons and overt attempts -- with China -- to take over the Middle East. Just recently, we have seen Iran's entrenchments in Syria and Iraq; its takeover of Lebanon by its proxy Hezbollah; its stepped-up aggression against Saudi Arabia by its proxy, the Houthis, and its 4,000-rocket war this month on the tiny country of Israel by yet another proxy, Hamas.
Whatever "deal" is struck in Vienna, Iran is not interested in "stabilizing" the Middle East. As the Biden administration has correctly pointed out, Iran's leaders, with China, seem interested only in destabilizing, then dominating it.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US foreign policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
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